I’m In Love with Chef’s Cape Town!

GOIS! I LOVE CHEF’S Cape Town! I think they must open in every major city around the world! YES PLEASE! Have you heard of it yet?

By now you may have seen a review or two about Chef’s in town. I’ve personally not read any of them as I’m always hesitant to be swayed by popular opinion. So I was pleased when they invited me for dinner so that I could make up my own mind about the restaurant.

Dinner For Two Please

I decided to visit with my bestie Ang, on the night of the Design Indaba Nightscape. I had my long birthday weekend ahead it and seemed the perfect start after work.

We arrived to the restaurant on Hatfield street just after 6pm. Parking was easy as the streets are quiet after hours. Inside, the restaurant was quiet with only 1 single lady and another couple seated. We were shown to our two man table, closely neighbouring the next quest. The seating was comfortable and the table deep, which meant we weren’t squished while dining.

So What’s So Great About Chefs?

The food and wine. That’s it. Yes, I can go on about the restaurant being industrial with large windows that let in soft evening light or the fact that you can watch the cooks compose your meal, but the bottom line is the food. No mess, no fuss, just epic food.

Chef’s serves their food in metal, “mess” trays. They use simple, yet modern glasses for their wine. Perfectly chilled, perfect portion, job done.

Oh, one fun feature I should mention is the use of tech. They bring an iPad to your table that allows you to survey the menu, wine list and see the plating of each dish.

I’m not usually one for restaurants with pictures of their food on their menu, but I actually loved being able to see what my meal would look like before arriving. Too often I’ve ordered a dish with something in mind, yet when it arrived it was not what I’d had hoped. This way I knew exactly what would arrive and it was delicious!

What Did We Eat?

What I didn’t know is just HOW good the food would be! WOW! AND! It was the perfect menu for our friendship. What does that mean? Well, Ang doesn’t eat red meat and I don’t eat seafood. So together we could see the whole menu and both have what we love!

Ang had the Vodka & Dill-Cured Salmon

Served w/ a soft egg, capers and a seed-mustard dressing. Side salad of house pickled cucumber, rocket, beetroot and fennel. Caper tomato salsa and whipped dill cream. Freshly baked sweet potato, crushed fennel bread. (I don’t usually compare side by side, but since they had images, you can see the comparison. Pretty darn close and equally as delicious!)

I had the Buttermilk and Herb Wood Roast Leg of Lamb

Served with triple cooked chips. Side salad of baby greens, almonds, rocket, chevre and roast red onion with mini pita breads. Salsa verde and minted tzatziki. I mixed up the pita and the lamb and I mixed up the lamb and the chips, it was all SO good!

Yogurt Panna Cotta

We ended the meal with HUGE bowls of yogurt panna cotta, YUUUMMM! I LOVE panna cotta! With roasted pineappel, citrus jelly and lemon curd, offset with meringue shards – not usually a fan of meringue, but the toasted almonds were heavenly! Absolutely DIVINE! (Can I go back right now?!)

Negatives?

I personally hate it when my dining experience is dominated by people at the table next to me. You might be enjoying life and thinking you’re interesting, but I don’t need to know about it. So I felt a bit bad that our alone, dining neighbour had to listen to everything we were saying.

But we really couldn’t have softer because the restaurant was so quiet when we arrived and we really weren’t trying to be loud! The nature of the restaurant lends itself to eavesdropping! Luckily, more diners arrived throughout the course, increasing the ambient noise.

How To Get a Table

I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about Chef’s. I’m not sure if the simple format puts them off or what, but too much of this life is about aesthetics these days, and not enough about the goods. Personally, I thought all Chef’s food looked amazing any way, but this place is about substance, pure and simple. Catch them in Hatfield Road, Gardens. They’re open: